Pipeline project draws questions from neighbors

UWCHLAN — Columbia Gas Transmission hosted its first open house Monday evening to inform the public about its proposed 8.9-mile pipeline expansion project through Chester County.

The Fairfax, Va.-based subsidiary of NiSource Gas Transmission is planning to install the expansion from the Eagle Compression Station to West Bradford and is in the pre-filing process for its proposed expansion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

As part of this process, Columbia must hold public outreach events, such as the public open house held Monday at the Wyndham Garden Exton Valley Forge, and introductory meetings with landowners and others likely to be affected by the project.

According to Chevalier Mayes, communications manager for NiSource, meetings will be ongoing until the pipeline is operational.

“Landowners can ask us specifically how the expansion project will affect their area of land,” said Mayes.

According to Mayes, the open house allows the company to provide information about its proposal and gives landowners a chance to address any issues or concerns they have about the project early in the process.

The pipeline, 26 inches in diameter, will affect 180 landowners in its right-of-way once construction begins as planned in April 2015. The pipeline is expected to be operational in September of that year and would lie adjacent to an existing pipeline also owned by the natural gas company. It will cut through area wetlands and waterways, including the Brandywine Creek, which will be crossed using the horizontal directional drilling method.

According to Brian Luis, project manager for the expansion, Columbia has developed a customized construction plan for the expansion due to local interest in preserving privately owned land, publicly owned land and natural resources.

Columbia recently surveyed and staked the proposed pipeline path, the first step in the construction process. The next step is front-end clearing, when trees are cut and removed from the proposed path. That is not expected to begin until winter 2014, after final project approval. Luis said more adjustments to the path could be made before the clearing process.

Maya van Rossum, an advocate for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said she was concerned about various aspects of the project and primarily about whether there is a need for another pipeline to cross this part of the county.

“We’re not at the place where this is a foregone conclusion,” van Rossum said.

While Columbia representatives have said the expansion is needed to meet an increased demand for natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation, van Rossum said the community can still fight against the proposal. “We’re paying close attention to this project, along with others,” she said.

Van Rossum suggested that residents opposed to Columbia’s expansion project — or any other proposed pipelines — should contact their elected local and state officials.

For some residents, the amount of disturbance is not an issue if Columbia can return the area to its original, if not better, state. “So long as they replace the topsoil, re-seed as they did before, we have no problems and wish them success,” said Richard Whittaker, who co-manages his family farm in East Brandywine.

Columbia installed a pipeline on the land in 1947, about six years before the Whittaker family originally purchased White Acres Farm, and replaced the pipeline about 10 years ago.

According to Whittaker, the pipeline runs about 0.25 miles through the middle of his fields. But due to previous efforts to preserve the land they disturbed, the grass Columbia planted has fared better than the rest of his fields. The proposed expansion will also cut through some of Whittaker’s property.

Nevertheless, other residents said they have had less satisfactory experiences with previous pipeline projects.

Steven McNaughton of Upper Uwchlan has had four different pipelines or communication lines cut through part of his property. McNaughton said he was attending the open house to express his hope that Columbia reconsider the current path to avoid his entire neighborhood.

Hal Harper of Upper Uwchlan expressed frustration over the lack of “straight answers” provided by representatives at the open house, specifically regarding how deep the pipelines would be placed underground.

Janice Kieth, an advocate for the Guardians of the Brandywine, said she was at the event to find more information about how the project will affect the Brandywine Creek, and said she hopes that the waterway will remain a high-quality stream.

“It just seems that there’s so much pipeline activity going on. We’re just concerned that this is going to cause problems,” said Mary Ciarrocchi of Uwchlan. “It’s becoming a problem. This is where we live. This is our water. This is our land.”